By Jay Annelli
Continuity is a prison. Continuity is a foundation. Breaking continuity is a sin. Continuity is the scaffolding on which stories are built. Continuity makes me better than the tourists. Continuity is a gate that keeps out newcomers. Continuity is a complex issue, viewed differently by everyone who engages with it. Its weight continues to grow, to the delight of some and despair of others.
In April 1997, Wizards of the Coast (namely Pete Venters, Kij Johnson and Scott Hungerford) published Dominian Chronicles in The Duelist. While this was largely a general worldbuilding article, it also marked something more. It was a change in direction. Wizards’ deals with Harper Prism and Armada Comics had ended, and Magic’s story was being brought internally. Up until this point, a planeswalker was largely defined as a wizard powerful enough to move between planes. Magic’s lore in general had been very loose, and the hiring of authors mostly known for Dungeons & Dragons meant most early Magic lore felt like D&D with the serial numbers filed off. A planeswalker felt like a wizard learning the spell Plane Shift. Dominian Chronicles would change all that, and in the minds of many story fans at the time, invalidate everything that came before:
